The Human Side of Animals | Page 5

The animals of each locality are usually coloured according to their
habitat, but good reasons make some exceptions advisable. Many of the
most striking examples of this protective resemblance among animals
are the result of their very intimate association with the surrounding
flora and natural scenery. There is no part of a tree, including flowers,
fruits, bark and roots, that is not in some way copied and imitated by
these clever creatures. Often this imitation is astonishing in its
faithfulness of detail. Bunches of cocoanuts are portrayed by sleeping
monkeys, while even the leaves are copied by certain tree-toads, and
many flowers are represented by monkeys and lizards. The winding
roots of huge trees are copied by snakes that twist themselves together
at the foot of the tree.
In the art of camouflage--an art which affects the form, colour, and
attitude of animals--Nature has worked along two different roads. One
is easy and direct, the other circuitous and difficult. The easy way is
that of protective resemblance pure and simple, where the animal's

colour, form, or attitude becomes like that of its habitat. In which case
the animal becomes one with its environment and thus is enabled to go
about unnoticed by its enemies or by its prey. The other way is that of
bluff, and it includes all inoffensive animals which are capable of
assuming attitudes and colours that terrify and frighten. The colours in
some cases are really of warning pattern, yet they cannot be considered
mimetic unless they are thought to resemble the patterns of some
extinct model of which we know nothing; and since they are not found
in present-day animals with unpleasant qualities, they are not, strictly
speaking, warning colours.
Desert animals are in most cases desert-coloured. The lion, for example,
is almost invisible when crouched among the rocks and streams of the
African wastes. Antelopes are tinted like the landscape over which they
roam, while the camel seems actually to blend with the desert sands.
The kangaroos of Australia at a little distance seem to disappear into
the soil of their respective localities, while the cat of the Pampas
accurately reflects his surroundings in his fur.
The tiger is made so invisible by his wonderful colour that, when he
crouches in the bright sunlight amid the tall brown grass, it is almost
impossible to see him. But the zebra and the giraffe are the kings of all
camouflagers! So deceptive are the large blotch-spots of the giraffe and
his weird head and horns, like scrubby limbs, that his concealment is
perfect. Even the cleverest natives often mistake a herd of giraffes for a
clump of trees. The camouflage of zebras is equally deceptive.
Drummond says that he once found himself in a forest, looking at what
he thought to be a lone zebra, when to his astonishment he suddenly
realised that he was facing an entire herd which were invisible until
they became frightened and moved. Evidently the zebra is well aware
that the black-and-white stripes of his coat take away the sense of solid
body, and that the two colours blend into a light gray, and thus at close
range the effect is that of rays of sunlight passing through bushes.
The arctic animals, with few exceptions, are remarkable for imitating
their surroundings; their colour of white blends perfectly with the snow
around them. The polar bear is the only white bear, and his home is

always among the snow and ice. The arctic fox, alpine hare, and ermine
change to white in winter only, because during the other seasons white
would be too conspicuous. The American arctic hare is always white
because he always lives among the white expanses of the Far North.
Both foxes and stoats are carnivorous and feed upon ptarmigan and
hares, and they must be protectively coloured that they may catch their
prey. On the other hand, Nature aids the prey by providing them with
colours that enable them to escape the attention of their enemies.
The young of many of the arctic animals are covered with fluffy white
hair, so that while they are too young to swim they may lie with safety
upon the ground and escape the attention of polar bears; but in the
antarctic regions, where there are few enemies to fear, the young seals,
for instance, are exactly the colour of their parents.
The most remarkable exception of mimetic colouring among the
animals of the polar regions is the sable. Throughout the long Siberian
winter he retains his coat of rich brown fur. His habits, however, are
such that he does not need the protection of colour, for he is so active
that he can easily catch wild birds, and he can also subsist upon wild
berries. The woodchuck of North America retains his coat